Ex-Missouri Gov. discloses campaign donations

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Former Missouri Gov. Roger Wilson says he wanted to report two campaign contributions that landed him in legal trouble but was asked by federal authorities not to contact state officials.

Wilson admitted that he helped funnel $8,000 to the Missouri Democratic Party. He pleaded guilty this month to a misdemeanor federal charge of misusing funds from an insurance company.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/IlEAWc ) Wilson told the Ethics Commission last week that he and Missouri Employers Mutual made the campaign contributions. Wilson says he intended to contact officials in May 2011 but was asked to refrain by the U.S. attorney’s office. One condition for Wilson’s release until sentencing was to send a letter clearing the record.

Wilson, a Democrat, served as governor after Mel Carnahan’s fatal plane crash.